


Contemplation of a Lifetime

by Regalithy



Category: Akame ga Kill! (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Complete, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27059818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regalithy/pseuds/Regalithy
Summary: Just a short one-shot I was rolling around in my brain. Akame centric. Kind of angsty and grief-related.
Kudos: 4





	Contemplation of a Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t own Akame ga Kill? I wish I did, but I don’t. Most of this stuff is AU and non-canon anyway, I think it’ll slide.

_“It isn’t really fair to have a sword that kills every enemy in one hit, is it?”_

_“If the gods deemed it as such, then we have no right to argue. She holds the burden with honor and dignity.”_

_“What burden are you talking about, Grandpa Marcus? They didn’t say that in the history books!”_

_“That would be a long story, my child.”_

_“Please, please! I wanna hear it!”_

_“Very well, but first we must start from the beginning.”_

* * *

The weapons of Erra, they were called in ancient times.

The secrets of their creation given to the First Emperor by the god himself. These weapons were capable of turning the tides of battle, maybe even changing the course of large-scale warfare. Forty eight devices of absolute destruction. 

Some were smithed in Orichalcum by some of the world’s most renowned forgers. Others were carefully created with the remains of long-forgotten Danger Beasts. Some of course, we will never know their origin or how they were created.

Each weapon had a secret ability, a trump card of sorts. The wielder may have known of it, or maybe not. Some of these weapons may not even have one. The user determined all. 

The user. Determined by the gods themselves. Their will exerted through these weapons, selecting or rejecting the candidates for their immense power. Some would triumph. Others… well, we won’t speak of them. They’re not important. I digress.

In modern times, these weapons are more well known as the Teigu, the Imperial Arms. 

Fearsome warriors fought with these weapons during the Revolution. They were glossed over in the newly written history books. Not much is known about them to the younger generation, but those of old, who lived through the change of the nation’s course, know who they are. 

Almost, if not all of them are dead. We don’t know for sure. 

Most died during the final battle.

Night Raid.

Two currently remain that we know of. Najenda and Akame.

Najenda currently resides in our city. She lives a quiet, retired life. She deserves it, after all.

Akame, Akame. Her location is currently unknown. However, we do know she is living. Kurome, her sister, says so. We choose to believe her, of course. In general, Akame is a big question mark.

* * *

_How many days has it been? I lost count. A steak would be nice._

She trudged through the dark forest, each step absurdly quiet, although it was apparent she was dragging. Her dark locks blended in with the forest, only the gentle flutter of the wind making it obvious. Her hair went down to her lower back, contrasting against the tattered brown cloak she wore. Her boots were caked with mud. 

Two things could tell any informed passerby exactly who she was. Her eyes and her skin. The irises were a darker, cherry red. If that didn’t give it away, the faint red markings on her face and arms sure did. 

Akame.

The markings signified that she had not only used Murasame’s trump card, but forfeited her humanity as well. 

Ȇ̵͔̟͙͕̹̱̟̻̼̥̇̔̌́̇͆̎͝m̴̧̛̛̥͉̗͍̺͇̰̙̟̘̙̝̩̾̂͗̓b̷̧̯͈̳͙̦̹̝̺̘̬͖̈̅̓̈́̃͋̎̔̕̕̚ͅͅṙ̷̝͔͍̯͉̺̼̂̈́̋̈̌̽̏̚̚͜ă̶̧̯̤͙̬͜ͅc̶̟̲͓̩̈́̂͊̊̅̿̽͋͠į̴̢͍̯̬̻̬̜̘͎̦̆͊͜ͅͅṋ̷̫͙̖̝͇͖̖̺̺̬͋̾̂̂̈͐̃͘͜g̷̛̛͓͖͊̾̆̓̄̉̈̀̋̀́̐͝ ̷̡͚̗̟̼͛̓̎͝ṯ̶̨̢̱͈̬͓̺̪̤͎̝̏͌̒h̴̡̺̦͈̻̝̖̘̜͙̠̉̌̈́̽͗̚ẹ̵̢͉̟̜̘͓̩̙̅͊͜ ̷̭̟̪̰͉̖̗͍̮̫̟̝̿͂̎ḑ̵̭̮̗̼̟̠͎̫̮̗̳͖͘ͅͅȇ̶̠̱̟̦̥̜̰̰̜ṃ̴̧̫̤̪̳̬̣̩̖̰̺̮͙̔̂̌͑̈́̒̔͆̕ͅo̸̧͉̰͉̥̣̙̐̃̄̇̈́n̸̡̯̰͇̭͈͈͇͚̲͌̄̐̈̾̒̈́̎͑̓͜ ̵̢̜̭̫̝̙̂̄͑̊̈͐̅̇i̶̢̱̣̱̩͓͈̖̦̥̪̿̄̿̃͛̎ͅn̶̛̜̖̻͓͓̥͔͕͔̐͐͑͜s̷̛͚̺͍̥͈̟̭͉̠̤̫̘͎̅͗͌̂ḯ̴̫̬̳̆d̴̢̧̛̮̱͓͙̥̱̪̬̖̲͙̩̊̐̀̍́̈́̆̏̒̽̋͝ͅe̶͎̳̗̤̪̖̞͙̮̯̞͚͉̙̽̔̐.̵̧̞̭̹̈́̀̐̈́͐̄

  
  


She stopped to set up camp, dropping her pack and sword. She leaned her back against a tree, exhaling a breath she didn’t know she was keeping trapped inside her lungs.

_Why me? Why do I have to go through all this pain and suffering?_

_Wouldn’t it be much easier to just… die?_

_But I can’t disgrace my former comrades like that. They would have just died. In vain._

_I do this for them, nothing more._

_Chicken would be nice tonight. Maybe pork. Whatever I can find._

She pulled out some basic cooking utensils and a pan. Leaping up, she sprinted down through the woods, searching for the first live animal she could find. 

_No Danger Beasts in sight. Thankfully._

A deer scampered through the clearing next to her. Akame came to an abrupt stop.

_Venison it is. Aw._

She silently drew her sword, gripping it by the handle like it was a trident. She threw it with extreme accuracy right at the deer, skewering its neck. Pain coursed through her body, dropping her down to a knee.

_Fuck this curse._

She began dragging the deer back to camp. Her sword was once again sheathed at her side.

It oozed a black mist, as if it were satisfied from a healthy sacrifice. 

_How… how am I supposed to cope? What do I do this for? The pain never ends. In my heart and in my body._

She dropped the deer. She set up all of her tools and other equipment, starting a cooking fire. She drew a small dagger from her pack, beginning to brutally gut the now deceased deer. 

More time passes. She lays in her makeshift sleeping bag, staring at the stars. Her sword lay near the closest tree, propped against it. Her red eyes gleamed in the moonlight that reflected through the tree branches.

_Why do I question so often? I am a sword, I strike as I must, I act as I am told. That’s all I am._

She stared up at the sky, her eyes fluttering shut as she slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

_Help me._

* * *

_Three._

She cut down another opponent, her stainless blade slicing into his neck. His head came clean off. The blood immediately spewed out like a fountain, staining the dark green grass of the forest. The body dropped to the floor, as if somebody instantly unplugged its controller.

Her final two opponents charged at her.

The five corpses littered the floor, easily dealt with as if they were just bugs being stomped on the side of the road. 

She ran her fingers down her blade, wiping the crimson liquid off the metal surface. 

Akame looked up to the sky, the clear view easily showing the shining stars. She stuck her hand out as if she was reaching toward them, as if she had them in her grasp. 

_I have my purpose… but do I have a goal?_

She walked off into the woods once more, her destination truly unknown.

She had initially left the capital in pursuit of a cure for Kurome’s condition. After a while, she slowly gave up. Even though she loved her sister, Akame believed that she wasn’t the solution to her problems, she was part of the problem itself. 

She strolled through the stark wood, the noise of the distant city slightly audible if she listened enough. The men she massacred were most likely from that city. Not that she truly cared, of course. She had more important matters to attend to. 

Images of Tatsumi flashed in her retinas. Tatsumi survived the final battle, destined for a future with Mine and the remaining Night Raid members. 

He was assassinated two days later. Most likely a remaining member of former nobility. 

Akame didn’t know. She hunted that woman down across the entire city, giving her a slow and painful death for murdering him. 

Mine couldn’t bear the thought. She was found dead a day later. Suicide.

The members of Night Raid were supposed to be strong, able to triumph over death. It seems as if only so much death can be dealt with. 

_If the former members of Night Raid could barely take the pain, why do I have to bear this burden? Physical and mental?_

Akame never stopped walking, continuing her contemplative travel through the rest of the night. 

Dawn soon followed, the edge a singular star slowly appearing over the horizon. The sunrise was a beautiful purple and orange color, blending in with the nearby cloud cover. A sight to see for those who wake late.

Akame had seen it plenty of times though.

She finally exited the sparse forest, encountering a desolate field. It was nearing the end of fall, the frigid winter season making its appearance. A farmhouse was seen near the end of the field, a lone man resting on its porch. As she neared closer, his arm went up in greeting. Akame smiled, waving back, but continuing on. Although there were many people on her journey, she couldn’t necessarily stop for every one.

She looked up at the sky. The slow conversion from dark to light made it amazing to look at. If there is one certainty in life, it’s that the sun will rise every morning, regardless of what else happens.

Akame let out a great big grin for the first time in a while. 

“Maybe everything isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

She continued her trek to the great unknown. She met numerous people, seeing new faces, all bringing a dazzling smile to her face. She even stopped at a local village at some point.

She held up her seventh mug of the night, letting out a cheer as she downed the whole drink in one fell swoop. Her opponent, a burly, muscled man, lay passed out on the floor, incapacitated by his own drunkedness. 

Not a single sign of flushness crossed her face.

“I guess he couldn’t hold his drinks,” She deadpanned. 

The tavern roared in laughter, cheering for the victor of the drinking contest. A man the same size walked up to the man on the ground, his facial structure equivocal to the downed participant.

“You sure did put on a good show, miss,” The man said, flashing her a smile.

“It was fun for both parties involved. I must eliminate my opponent, no matter what the task,” She mocked, closing her eyes and letting out another smile.

The man nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Hell, it’s alright to let loose once in a while. I don’t blame my brother for doing it, but he’ll suffer the consequences tomorrow.”

He picked the man up from the ground, his limp figure barely reacting to the sudden movement. He began walking outside, presumably to take him home. His brother’s feet dragged behind him as he put his arm around his neck. He turned back to face Akame.

“Anyway, nice meeting you. Take it easy, now!” 

“You too, stranger.” 

She then proceeded to demolish a giant chicken wing, presumably from some random Danger Beast. She didn’t care, giving an innocent look toward all the villagers who stared, shock riddling their faces.

She stood up, waving, after placing a large sum of money on the table. Way more than that cost, most likely. 

Akame headed to a nearby inn afterward, satisfied with how her night had gone. She hadn’t let loose like that since Night Raid. At this rate, it would’ve been a few years since then.

“Night Raid… huh,” She said aloud, looking up at the night sky once again. 

_I wonder how they’re doing up there. If up there even exists. Who knows. With all the hell I’ve been through in my life, whether it be as a contract assassin just doing my job, or as… as what? There’s nothing else besides that, is there? No childhood, no teenage years, no nothing. Only murder, corruption, and execution. Why is that all my life has ever been about.”_

She took a detour from her previous route toward the inn, treading a few paces along the gravel road. She traveled for a brief period of time, coming to her destination, a tree near the outskirts of the village. She leaned up against it, her back sliding down the rough wood. She sat in contemplation, just pondering random subjects and ideas as she gazed off into the night skyline, as if she was hypnotized.

_The sky sure looks pretty tonight. It always does, but more tonight than usual._

The tree overlooked a massive plain, a singular road winding down it’s center. The night sky loomed over the horizon, numerous stars depicted into numerous shapes and objects. The glint of the moon almost seemed like it beamed down upon her, in an attempt to entrance her once more. A singular star in the distance, presumably the north star, gleamed in the distance. It reminded her of herself in a way. She never really tried to stand out, be different, but it happened anyway. It may have gotten everyone killed in the end. 

Reluctantly, it kept shining, brighter than the rest. As all of the other stars in the universe were snuffed out, thousands, maybe millions, that one constant remained. And it would endure as well, until it’s time would eventually come. Then it would disappear in a flash, just like the rest. 

It was eerie for her to understand that her life would come to an end at some point. Sure, she had accepted it at an early age, ending plenty of lives herself, whether it had been a random, unknown target, her old master, Esdeath even, and losing the ones she cared about as she treaded along on her spontaneous, eventful adventure, known as life. Everything held reason, everything held purpose. To what extent, though, was the question.

She could contemplate a few reasons. Maybe due to the similarities between life and an unrelenting machine, pounding through day after day, only to come to an inevitable halt. Maybe it was due to the experiences of horror, suffering, death and despair. All culminating in a singular feeling of emptiness, the goal being to fill the void as much as humanly possible. Or maybe it was to take that suffering, horrible suffering, and turn it into positivity. Into happiness. Into a beauty that words couldn’t describe. Such is the nature of life, however.

After a few solemn minutes, her mind went blank. Tuning out to the world around her, her insides basking in the calm serenity of her mindscape. 

_I miss you, all of you, but I think there comes to a point where instead of grief, your thought should be turned into motivation. Into hope._

She leaned her head against the trunk of the tree, her eyes attempting to fight off the calling of slumber.

_Maybe even if I don’t have a goal, life is worth living. Maybe I’m more than a sword. Maybe if I help myself, things like this can happen more often. Things like tonight. Happiness._

She drifted off to sleep, her crimson eyes finally closing.

* * *

_“Grandpa, grandpa! I wanna hear about Akame! She sounds amazing! Although I don’t really get what she meant at the end.’_

_“You’ll find out soon enough, my child. Wait until you get older, then you’ll understand.”_

_“But grandpa! I wanna hear about Night Raid! They sound awesome!”_

_“You should be heading to bed now, it’s getting late.”_

_“Pleaseeeee!!”_

_“Fine, I’ll tell you more tomorrow if you behave.”_

_“Yay! I can’t wait!”_

_“Goodnight Grandpa Marcus, I love you!”_

**Author's Note:**

> It’s been a while. I haven’t written anything in ages. Oh well, it is fine. I don’t really know what I’m gonna do with the DitF one shots, I’m probably just gonna leave them be for now. We’ll see how I feel in the future, I may or may not update it. I mean, I did say at the start I was writing one shots so if this exact thing happened you guys wouldn’t get attached, didn’t I?
> 
> Short and sweet. Hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Hope everyone is doing okay with all this COVID shit. 
> 
> Stay safe, and take it easy.
> 
> Regalithy.


End file.
